What distance needed to enlarge to 30" x 40" with 135mm or 150mm lens for 4x5?

[David Wolf]

Thank you all for your generous answers! Invaluable and much appreciated : )

When posting, I thought my chief constraint would be the low ceiling height of my darkroom-to-be, at 87" floor to ceiling. Thus my interest in learning about negative to easel distance ~ before I build the adjustable table top, and purchase a suitable lens(es).

Now I see from several replies the light source itself may be an issue, so thanks for that, IC and Bernice ; )

Here are some more specifics that some of you have requested. Hopefully this may further discussion and get me on the right track.

Enlarger: Omega D5 XL, well-cared for and under wraps since I moved from my previous, much larger (!) darkroom some years ago. Have done only B&W work with this Omega, with the largest prints being 20x24 from 6x7 film. Did larger color work (40x48) from 4x5 in a rental space subsequently, with a set-up perhaps along the lines of Drew's.

Light Source: Aristo Cold Light, 7" diameter. Also have the Condenser head with glass and "Hi-Intensity" bulb that came with the D5. Would this be adequate to evenly illuminate prints up to 30x40? If not, what are my alternatives with this enlarger?

The XL Chassis height is 53." With a ceiling height of 87," this means there would be 34" from the chassis base to the floor. I'd need to make a cut-out in the table-top for the enlarger chassis/base to accommodate the table-top when in its highest position. The distance info Jerry and Emmanuel have kindly provided as well as which lens I choose will help me decide at what intervals I should install shelf rails to drop down the enlarging surface.

Printing: I tend to crop minimally, and often print full-bleed, edge-to-edge, using glass carrier with heat-absorbing, Anti-Newton glass.

Many thanks again to all! Please consider adding suggestions given the new info I've added above.

All my best,

David

PS Here's my Omega D5 XL, which I imagine you're all acquainted with.

[Drew Wiley]

Yeah, you'll be somewhat cramped, ceiling height wise. I'm familiar with the chassis, but not with the specific cold light you have in mind. I do have an Aristo 12X12 inch V54 (blue-green) high-output cold ight and it has tons of surplus lumen output relative to black and white papers. But I doubt you'll get fully even illumination with anything you've described so far. Needing to burn in edges and corners is not really much of a headache in the overall scheme of things. The advantage of a cold light is that it requires less head room and is less of a potential fire hazard close to the ceiling than an intense condenser head. But I don't know if the specific one you have in mind will have enough poop or not. One advantage of the 150/f4 Apo Rodagon N is that it's faster than than the f/5.6 135 and 180, and can even be used at a somewhat wider aperture, letting more light through. But you'd still have to deal with falloff one way or another. It also depends on what kinds of paper you prefer. For example, Ilford's MGWT seems at least a full stop slower than their Classic and Cooltone VC's.

My own notes show a 55 inch starting point between negative plane and easel when using a 150 with respect to a 30X40 print, which in my case does factor a bit of handling or masked off display margin. So you might want to allow at least 60 inches (5 ft) for your purposes. Seems doable with a 150 and cold light, at least if you don't mind the easel being very close to the floor. Otherwise, you're going to have to look into one of those wider lenses Bob S. recommended. I once owned a 135 Rodagon for 4X5 use; it was high quality but needed more aggressive corner burning. I have no experience with the 120 WA he mentioned. But when it comes to Rodenstock, Bob really knows his stuff. There's currently a clean 120 on EBay from a seller who has given me good service.

[David Wolf]

Thanks, Drew! I've sent you a follow-up PM.

[ic-racer]

Thanks for posting a picture of your enlarger. D5XL is awesome, one of the best 4x5 enlargers made in the USA. I use the Omega D5500 system for 4x5. (I have two of them).

First, before designing anything I'd use your D5XL as-is to make 16x20 prints, that are within its operating range, to make sure those can be made flawlessly, before going outside of its operating range.

Bob Carine has posted pictures of his Omega D5 setup for big enlargements. From what I recall, he also uses the condenser head to get enough light. I think also the 250W lamp. There should be a picture of his D5 setup somewhere (like YouTube), maybe he will chime in here.
Anyway, I'd copy his drop-table setup as it is known to work, and he is a master of huge enlargements.

Personally, none of my 4x5 enlargers has a drop table. I use the 4x5 mixing box on my 8x10 enlarger when needing big enlargements from 4x5 negatives. That enlarger has a drop table built in and it gets me up to 40" across.

Here is Bob, explaining his drop-table 4x5 setup:

[David Wolf]

Thanks IC for suggesting Bob C's darkroom video tour, nice!

The "Enlarger" segment does show the drop-down table he's made (two others are built into two massive enlargers), but the video framing largely cuts off the view of the design! I can see, though, it's similar to what I have in mind, based on a rental space I've worked in. I'll PM Bob C with a couple questions based on the video, so thx again for the suggestion.

With the D5XL I've made good-looking prints up to 20x24 with a 105 El Nikkor using 6x7 film, and the Aristo D-2 HI cold light I mentioned in the post. Haven't yet printed 4x5 with it. Are you thinking perhaps the light source may not have enough coverage for the larger negative (compared to 6x7) at the size I hope to print? Others have mentioned this, too. Any suggestions for an alternative light source to increase coverage that would still allow me to use the D5?

Thanks for your help!